Sunderland set to sign Bjorkland

The Sweden international central defender was undergoing a medical on Wearside this morning with a view to completing his switch from Italian Serie A side Venezia.

The club have yet to reveal whether the 30-year-old former Rangers defender's move would be on a permanent basis following weekend reports that a loan deal had fallen through.

Manager Peter Reid currently has problems at the back with joint record signing Emerson Thome struggling to recover from a long-standing knee problem and Slovakian Stanislav Varga unable to find the form of his early days at the club.